Team Zenith’s Anthony “Ant” posted a [url=http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?showtopic=130698]thread[/url] in the DotA Allstars official forum to seek interest from competitive teams beyond Asia. He was doing so on behalf of Rapture Gaming, the main organizer for WCG events in Singapore.

Rapture Gaming is planning to push the tournament sponsors to raise the top prize to S$10,000 in a bid to attract teams from beyond Asia. This is double of last year’s S$5000 top prize. Should there be a good showing by teams from the Americas and Europe, this will be the world’s first DotA LAN tournament.

The massive prize money is not set in stone however. “Nothing confirmed … it’s mostly [the] organiser wanting me to check for international interest,” said “Ant” on Zenith’s channel on the QuakeNet IRC network.

Initial response from the international DotA Allstars competitive community was positive. Community member “Brood_Star” [url=http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=130698&view=findpost&p=1556165]said [/url]that the tournament “would be a big step towards a competitive future in DotA”, while “RevoMan” [url=http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=130698&view=findpost&p=1556987]believes[/url] that this would “an amazing leap for the DOTA community world wide” should it be a success.

However, [url=http://www.verge-gaming.net/]Verge Gaming[/url]’s “a2Whisperwind” believes that American teams will definitely sit up and take notice should the prize pool go up to US$10,000 (S$15,168). Explaining that prize money may not be the only factor influencing international interest, he [url=http://forums.dota-allstars.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=130698&view=findpost&p=1559772]said[/url], “Depending on the prize pool, coverage, and possible publicity gained, the incentives may offset the massive transportation costs.”

The final size of the prize pot will most likely hinge upon whether the tournament will be able to attract the international interest and publicity that sponsors and professional e-sports teams crave for.